Environmental lighting, particularly outdoor lighting, is well known in commercial or public settings, such as parks and schools. Such lighting has also become increasingly popular for use in private homes, both to enhance the appearance and safety of the outdoor area and for security by eliminating hiding places and unobserved entry points for intruders.
Landscape and outdoor lighting systems include one or more lighting fixtures which are connected to either a 12 V transformer or a standard 120 VAC line. The lighting fixtures generally include a housing, a reflector assembly having a halogen or conventional bulb, and a lens or window. Many configurations are known, each of which provides a different lighting effect.
One of the more popular and versatile lighting fixtures utilizes a cylindrical housing attached to a pivoting knuckle joint, which allows the light to be directed at variable angles. The knuckle joint may be attached to a mounting brackets for attachment to structures, or placement of the fixtures can be as simple as sticking a tapered spike, which is attached to the pivoting joint, into the ground, so that no structures need to be modified to retain the fixture. Further, the use of a spike allows the fixtures to be placed within planters and lawn areas, and next to trees, away from structures.
While the pivoting joints provide significant adaptability in the aiming of the light, they are also the weakest point in the fixtures. The fixtures are subject to impact from gardening tools, children's toys, and persons inadvertently running into them. The joints are easy broken, particularly when they have exposed to moisture and other corrosive elements which attack the metal within the joint.
A reflector assembly, which is generally parabolic, is typically fixed within the end of the cylindrical housing nearest the open end, so that the light is emitted at a fixed angle from the fixture. The end of the cylinder is covered with a cap to protect the light source and electrical connections from the elements. The cap may include a lens and a cowling or glare shield to diffuse the beam and/or control the beam width to prevent the beam from shining directly into the eyes of individuals in the vicinity of the fixture. Nevertheless, glare control remains a problem and is considered to be the single most important factor in determining safety and aesthetics of any lighting project. A significant drawback to the use of hoods, tubular fittings which effectively lengthen the housing, is that they provide a trap for dirt and plant matter which can impair the fixture's light output as well as creating an environment that may actually speed up corrosion of the fixture. Other modifications, including internal baffles, may require modification of the lens or light source to allow the baffle to be inserted within the housing, possibly effecting the water-tight nature of the fixture. Besides the glare shields and baffles, directability of the fixture ,s important. However, much of this directability relies upon the pivot joints previously described.
It would be desirable to provide an economical light fixture that allows the beam angle and amount of glare and/or beam width to be adjusted without introducing components which result in premature failure of the fixtures. These problems and deficiencies arc clearly felt in the art and are solved by the present invention in the manner described below.